r/WASPs

Cute little old aunts house. Guessing wasp spray from 15 feet at night and run like hell?

They appear to be too distinct insects. The small one is a yellow jacket I think. Is the large one a queen or a hornet?

What kind of wasp is this? I’m in Upsate NY and there’s a lot of different kinds. This fella was in my room trying to get out the window.

little fella was just buzzin around.

he’s just a bit bigger than a fly and was docile enough to land on my arm and clean himself

The Megarhyssa macrurus, commonly known as the long-tailed giant ichneumon wasp, is a harmless parasitic insect native to North America. Despite its intimidating, prehistoric appearance, this striking insect lacks a functional venomous stinger and poses no threat to humans or pets. Its most defining characteristic is its immense size, with a brightly patterned yellow and reddish-brown body that can grow up to two inches long.

The wasp is famous for the female's extraordinarily long, thread-like tail, which is actually a specialized egg-laying organ called an ovipositor. This structure can extend over three inches in length, more than doubling the insect's total size. While it looks like three separate stingers, it consists of one central egg-laying tube encased by two flexible protective sheaths that peel away during use. Males are notably smaller than females and completely lack this tail appendage.

This specialized anatomy is critical to the wasp's predatory lifecycle, which targets the larvae of the pigeon horntail wasp buried deep inside wood. The female crawls along dead or dying hardwood trees, using her antennae to feel for the subtle vibrations of a horntail grub tunneling inside. Once she pinpoints a target, she uses her zinc-hardened ovipositor to drill several inches directly through the solid timber, paralyzing the host grub and depositing a single egg next to it.

Once the egg hatches, the newborn Megarhyssa larva slowly consumes the horntail host alive before pupating inside the tree and emerging as an adult the following summer. This intricate process makes them highly beneficial to forest ecosystems, acting as a natural population control for wood-boring pests. Because they only target insects residing within dead or decaying wood, they cause zero damage to healthy, living trees.

Watched it drag this spider along and up the fence for a while, super cool! It worked hard for this meal!

She was chucking out new flower bed chips and dirt I think. One of my favorites as a kid, nice to see as a grown up.

I tried to get a good picture but it moves fast, this is the best I could do.

Seems to be solitary, has been carrying flower petals into the hole at the bottom of the pot.

Is this going to turn into a colony of angry wasps? Or is it something I don't need to worry about?

Thanks!

Wasps are crucial for ecosystems by controlling pest insect populations (caterpillars, aphids), acting as pollinators for many plants (especially figs), serving as food for other animals (birds, spiders), aiding decomposition by carrying dead insects, aerating soil through nesting, spreading beneficial microbes, and even holding economic value in agriculture and medicine, making them vital for environmental balance, not just nuisances.

10 ways wasps help the environment:

1. Natural Pest Control: They hunt and feed on crop-damaging pests like aphids, caterpillars, and flies, keeping their numbers down.

2. Pollination: As they seek nectar, they transfer pollen, assisting in plant reproduction, especially for figs and orchids.

3. Food Source: Wasps and their larvae provide essential protein for birds, spiders, reptiles, and other predators, supporting higher food webs.

4. Decomposition: They scavenge dead insects and organic matter, helping to recycle nutrients back into the soil.

5. Soil Aeration: Digging nesting burrows helps mix and aerate soil, improving drainage and root growth.

6. Microbe Dispersal: Moving between flowers and decaying matter helps spread beneficial microbes, promoting plant health.

7. Promote Biodiversity: With thousands of species filling various ecological roles, wasps contribute to overall ecosystem richness.

8. Support Agriculture: Their pest control services reduce the need for chemical pesticides, saving farmers billions and protecting crops.

9. Biological Control Agents: Parasitic wasps lay eggs inside other insects, controlling pest populations naturally.

10. Nutritional Role (in some cultures): In some parts of the world, wasps (and their larvae) are a traditional food source for humans.

These are only a few reasons to love them. Get to know some of the families in the video and I bet I could make you a fan!

I was stung by one of these. They had a nest low in my rose bush.
It had a nest that looked like any paper nest.

Hi! This is the third one of these that has made it into my room since yesterday!! I’ve been trying to photo ID them but no luck. I am in Vermont.

So far I know they might be some kind of solitary wasp? That’s as far as Google image search got me

This little girl is piiiissed at me. I’m trying to free her but she keeps aggressively bombing my face.

I didn’t take a photo of him, but he has been living in my head rent free.
I’ve managed to find a few photos of bugs that look SIMILAR but nothing that’s quite right, so please excuse my messy Frankenstein-esque description here.

It had a similar colour and stripe pattern to the Asian giant hornet, solid bands that went the entire way around the abdomen.
Its eyes were noticeably large, sort of fly sized like the European hornet, but larger eyes than that. Real dinner plates on its face…
And its body WAS NOT SEGMENTED, this is my main hurdle in finding the right bug, they all have segmented bodies and I’m struggling, I drew the shape of its body and an approx colour of the strips

The wings were waspy and segmented